Method of manufacturing seat-posts.



E. J. LONN.

METHOD OF MANUFACTURING SEAT POSTS.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT-19, 1916.

1 ,223,059. Patented Apr. 17, 1917.

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E. J. LONN.

METHOD OF MANUFACTURING SEAT POSTS.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT- 19. 1916.

1,223,059. Patented Apr. 17,1917.

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EDWARD JULIUS LONN, or LAron'rE, INDIANA, ,assienoaro GREAT WESTERN MANU- rAoT nrNG 00., or LAronrE, INDIAN-A, ii coaronarron' or ILLINOIS.

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Specification of Letters Patent.

Original application filed July 26, 1916, Serial No. 111,440. Divided and this application filed September 19,

' 1916. Serial No. 121,019. 1

To all whom it may concern: 7

Be it known that I, -EDWARD JULIUs LONN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Laporte, in the county of Laporte and State of Indiana, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Methods of Manufacturing Seat-Posts, of which the following is a specification. I

My invention relates to a method of manufacturing seat posts for bicycles and similar structures, of the type affording .a depending tubular portion which extends into an opening in the frame of the structure, or other suitable socket, and is clamped therein, and a tubular portion, usually and preferably of smaller diameter, which extends laterally of the depending portion and on which the seat is supported, the present invention being a division of my application for U. S. Letters Patent Serial Number 111,440 filed July 26, 1916, and my obiect is to reduce the cost of manufacturing and facilitate the manufacture of, seat posts of the general type above referred to and by which the post may be simple and strong of construction, light in weight and not require any machine work to produce it.

Referring to the accompanying draw- Figure 1 is a plan view of a seat post blank which may be employed in carrying out my new method. Fig. 2 is an edge view of the blank. Fig. 3 is a plan view of a reinforcing member for the post, preferably employed in carrying out my improved method. Fig. 4c is an edge view of the reinforcing member. Fig. 5 is a face view of the partially formed seatpost showing it in one condition during the forming process. Fig. 6 is an edge view thereof. Fig. 7 is a face view of the seat post showing it in an advanced stage during the forming process. Fig. 8 is an edge view thereof. Fig. 9 is a side view of the completed post; and Fig. 10, a section taken at the line 10 on Fig. 9 and viewed in the direction of the arrow.

In carrying out my invention as I prefer to practise it for producing a seat post of the character above stated with a reinforcement at its angle and withone of its tubular portions of less diameter than the other, I form the seat post from a single sheet, or piece, of sheet metal and a separate steel member which forms the reinforcement .for

the post. The blank referred to and illustrated at 11 and which is formed in any suitable manner, as by'stamping it from a sheet of steel, is recessed at its opposite longitudinal edges, as indicated at 12, these recesses, which are preferably of arc-shape, be-

ing located substantially coincident with the point at whichthe-two portions of the finished post, which extend at an angle to each other, meet. As the laterally-extending portion of the post, indicated at 13, is shorter than the depending portion 14 thereof, these recesses are located nearerone end of'the blank than the other thereof, the shorter portion of the blank represented at 15, being of slightly less width than the opposite longer portion 16 thereof, as the laterallyextending portion 13 of the post is by prefportion thereof.

The reinforcement represented at 17 is preferably a flat piece of steel ofangleshape, the angle at which the aIlQIllZLrlV-(llS- posed portions of this member extend, corresponding with the angle presented by the laterally-extending and depending portions of the finished post.

In the manufacture of the post of the particular character, and formed as described, and which is the form of post for producing which I have more particularly devised my invention, the blank is operated on by suitable dies to bend the blank to partially formed tubular condition with its end-portions slightly inclined to each other,

as represented in Figs. 5 and 6, and then by a further forming operation, by suitable dies, bent to the condition represented in Figs. 7 and 8 wherein the ends of the partially Patented Apr. 17,1917.

erence of less diameter than the depending tubular portions extend at substantially the -angle presented by the finished post'and the edges of the blank are spaced apart as represented in Fig. 8. The reinforcing member 17 is then inserted through theopen side of the partially formed post into the interior of the latter to a position in which it extends into the angle of the post with its ends positioned in the angularly-disposed portions of the post. formed post with the reinforcing' member positioned therein, as stated, is then bent The partially by suitable dies into complete tubularcondition with opposed edges of the post substantially meeting, in which operation the reinforcing member 17 becomes interlocked in reinforcing position. The opposing edges of the metal are then brazed, or otherwise suitably united, to produce the desired joint.

The finished seat post is represented in Fig. 9 which clearly illustrates the position in which the reinforcing member is secured in the body of the post.

It will be noted from the foregoing that by my improved method the post may be very economically manufactured and of the desired size without requiring any machine work. i

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. The method of producing; a seat post which consists in bending a blank, having recesses in opposite edges, to tubular condition and bending the blank intermediate Copies of this patent may its ends at said recesses to a position in which one end-portion extends at an angle to the other end-portion thereof and uniting the opposed edges of the blank.

2. The method of producing a seat post which consists in bending a blank to partially tubular condition with one end thereof extending at an angle to the other end and with opposed edges thereof separated, inserting a reinforcing member through the space between said separated edges, into the interior of the partially formed tube to a position in which it lies within the angle formed by the ends of the partially formed tube, and thereupon further bending the blank to cause the said opposed edges to substantially meet and confine said member in the tube and uniting said opposed edges.

EDWARD JULIUS LONN.

be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents Washington, D. G. 

